Amelia Lost by Candace Fleming

Amelia Lost, by Candace Fleming, retraces the life and last flight of Amelia Earhart.  There has been much interest recently in Amelia Earhart, particularly as yesterday, July 2, was the 75th anniversary of her disappearance in the Pacific.  In addition, a well-funded expedition is looking for the remains of her plane off a small island.

Everyone thinks they know about Amelia Earhart, but reading about the details of her life, interspersed with sections chronicling the events of her last day, readers will quickly realize they know the myths, but not the true story of Amelia Earhart.

Candace Fleming's vast research provides information about people and events, both the good and the bad, providing the reader with chances to make his or her own judgment about Amelia. This approach provides a glimpse into the difficulties a woman faced in being taken seriously in a profession dominated by men. Amelia had to make calculated decisions to continue to fly and there were doubts about Amelia's piloting skills at critical times in her career.

There is no question that she was a role model for women, and the feats she achieved taught women they could do something other than get married and be a housewife.  Fleming provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse that reminds us that Amelia was a human being, not a myth, and helps the reader understand the context of the time and culture in which Amelia Earhart lived.

Cinderella Smith by Stephanie Barden

Cinderella Smith, by local Seattle author, Stephanie Barden, illustrated by Dianne Goode, is a present-day story of a Cinderella (not her real name, and one she didn't get from having a wicked stepmother or by sleeping by an ashy fireplace) who faces some of the same problems as her fairy-tale namesake.

Ferreting out all the original Cinderella elements woven throughout the 148 pages of this novel makes for a fun story, along with the realistic characters dealing with issues facing children for centuries: combining families through remarriage, handling bullies, wanting to be the star of the show, frustration with personal limitations and quirks, and making new friends.

Cinderella remains that character everyone is rooting for, even when everything is going against her.  A wave of a magic wand won't fix things instantly, but this Cinderella is smart enough to keep her friends close while trying to solve her own problems.

Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake

Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake, written by Michael B. Kaplan, illustrated by Stephane Jorisch.

Betty Bunny is a handful, according to her mom and dad, and always hates something without trying it, even when offered chocolate cake for dessert one night.

"I hate chocolate cake.  Chocolate cake is yucky.  What's chocolate cake?"

And so begins Betty's love of chocolate cake, to the point where she says," When I grow up, I am going to marry chocolate cake!" to which her brother replies, " Whatever.  But you're going to have really weird-looking kids."

Betty learns about trying to control her feelings and her actions, as well as finding a little patience, as she struggles with wanting cake all the time.  This book would be a good read-aloud for kindergarten or first graders who find waiting a hard thing to do, maybe even a few adults might benefit from a reading or two.

Back for Summer Reading, 2012

I will start up A Book a Day tomorrow, Wednesday, June 27th, and continue through August 27th.  One of my primary study topics this summer is how to motivate all students to read, due to discussion we have been having in my district about reading incentives and motivation.  I will be doing a lot of professional reading in this area, but I know that having more books to personally recommend to students is the key to getting them excited about reading.

I am going to read a wide variety of books this summer, with a special focus on chapter books for 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders.  I tend to give those a quick skim when they come in, unless they have been recommended by a student or I see they are popular.  I spend more reading minutes on longer books for older readers, but I want to have more middle grade fiction at my disposal when school starts again in August.

To start, I'm reading a couple of the Field Trip Mysteries series, which are popular with 3rd grade but also with struggling 5th grade readers studying the mystery genre.  Let's see what the fuss is about!

Mo Willems' Pigeon App

One of my favorite blogs to read to find new books for the kids in my elementary library is MotherReader. She has great instincts into what books kids will like, plus I love her sense of humor and her almost-stalking of Mo Willems.  It was from her blog post "Mo and My Little Piggie" that I heard that Mo means for his books to be played like a readers theater, not just read, and doing that with the 2nd and 3rd graders in my library now is so much fun!  I have yet to have a group that can get through "We Are in a Book!" where they make the reader say, "Banana!" without falling on the floor laughing.  They often can't finish the play/story, and that's okay with me.

My school did the contest when "The Pigeon Wants a Puppy" was about to come out and no one knew what the Pigeon wanted.  Bulletin boards were covered with kids' pictures, from "The Pigeon Wants a Friend" to "The Pigeon Wants a Dessert" to "The Pigeon Wants a Sister."  Being a big Pigeon fan I entered MotherReader's contest for the new Mo Willems "Don't Let the Pigeon Run This App!".  What would be a good title for a Pigeon book that would make her and her TeenReader laugh?  Apparently "Don't Let the Pigeon Learn the Bagpipes!" was a winner.  I'm amazed and really excited to play with the Pigeon app.  I had a lot of fun thinking about it, and I think I'll ask my kids to think of some of their own, too.  More bulletin boards full of Pigeon pictures make for great library decorations!

Thanks, MotherReader for the app and the contest, and thanks for sharing good books with your readers!

Brixton Brothers: The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity by Mac Barnett

5/5 stars

As a fan of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries, I loved this first book in the Brixton Brothers series.  Steve is a big fan of the Bailey Brothers, reading and rereading every book in the series about two brothers who solve crimes just like Frank and Joe Hardy.  Excerpts from the Bailey Brothers books show off their famous roundhouse punch, how to find the best hiding places, and how to reveal the bad guy in front of all the witnesses, all while Steve is solving his first case and trying to answer these questions:

• Why are librarians chasing Steve through the library and all over town?
• When Steve checks out a quilting book from the library, why do the lights go out?
• Why has Steve been assigned a report on quilting over the weekend anyway?
• What is the mystery behind the mysterious Mr. E?
• Why does Steve want his best friend Dana to dress up like a gorilla?

These questions and many others are answered in the first Brixton Brothers mystery, The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity.  Those who enjoy a good mystery, such as the Hardy Boys or Encyclopedia Brown, will have a lot of fun reading this book.

All Hallows Read

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikewebkist/1027779/

Dreamed up by Neil Gaiman, author of Coraline, Odd and the Frost Giants, and The Graveyard Book, All Hallows Read suggests that people give out spooky or Halloween-themed books for Halloween instead of candy.  There are several book lists on the website, for younger and older readers.  If you are looking for a good book to give away, take a look at AllHallowsRead.com.